Mark Radcliffe presents a two-part tribute to Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy , one of cinema's best-loved comedy duos.
In this first programme he traces Laurel's comic genius back to his roots in the UK. He was born in Ulverston, Cumbria, where his father was a theatre manager. He became a comedy performer and eventually made it to America, where he understudied Charlie Chaplin and, after some setbacks, landed in Hollywood.
On joining the Hal Roach studios he met
Oliver Hardy. Roach himself soon realised that there was a comic spark between the two men and put them together as an "official" team. The rest, as they say, is history. Producer Libby Cross